September 30, 2012 - October 6, 2012

October 06, 2012

One reason I wish the world price of oil would fall is that it might speed the departure of this autocrat. From the NYTimes,

Venezuela’s traditional dependence on oil exports has deepened, with 96 percent of export revenue now coming from the oil industry,
up from 67 percent just before Mr. Chávez took office. Nationalized
steel mills produce a fraction of the steel they’re designed for,
forcing the state to import the difference. And nationalized electric
utilities plunge most of the country into darkness several times a week.
The contrast with Brazil’s high-tech, entrepreneurial, export-oriented
economy couldn’t be more stark....

With oversight institutions neutered, the president now runs the country
as a personal fief: expropriating businesses on a whim and deciding who
goes to jail. Judges who rule against the government’s wishes are
routinely fired, and one has even been jailed. Chávez-style socialism
looks like the worst of both worlds: both more authoritarian and less
effective at reducing poverty than the Brazilian alternative.

Queues for all the products for which Chavez has instituted price controls speak loudly to his failed economic policies. How is it that economists have done such a poor job of educating both voters and politicians about how badly price controls distort the economy and make so many people so much worse off?

He
quit teaching in 2002 and went back to school for a career change to
Engineering. In 2008 he quit his Master of Arts program and decided to
enter the world of federal politics in Papineau riding. So for 6 years
he was kicking around as a professional student and actor... WOW, talk
about being productive...!!!!

As I said, it rings true. As much as my liberal friends might be persuaded by the Trudeau mystique, I hope they'll look for more than hope, dreams, name, and mystique.